Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to make a short statement, but I'll tell you what's going on here, and I've been saying this for a long time—that when you pick people to do jobs in this place it's never picked on merit. I know what it's like with veterans, the amount of work that we have to put in, the fight that we have to go through. I know what it's like that Senator Steele-John also has to do all that extra work. He knows all those groups out there; he has contacts everywhere. While you guys do a continuous revolving door of ministers, of people in charge, we are stuck with this, whether it's for disability or veterans, from the time we walk into this chamber until we are finished, until our constituents say, 'We have had enough; we are voting you out,' or we leave on our own terms. If you want things done properly in this country then you'll give it to the people that are stuck in these situations, who know all these people on the outside and hear from every one of them every day of the week. These are the people who are the professionals. This is what you would do in business, but you would rather stick with some stupid tradition than give the job to the people who deserve it.

I'll be honest: if somebody knows about disabilities in this Senate chamber, it is Senator Steele-John. There is no debating this. I really wish you would start thinking outside the square, because quite frankly, if you haven't noticed, major parties are going out the door. This is happening. You have a bloke that lives this. He breathes this. He knows everybody in the sector. It makes it that easy. Isn't this the person that you would want as the Deputy Chair or the Chair? Isn't this the person that these people out there want representing them, to have the strongest voice possible where it matters most, based on merit, because he has earned it? He has earned this. But no, tradition is more important than humanity and doing the right thing in this chamber.

When are you going to learn? When are you going to start paying merit to people who deserve it, not because they're in your faction or they're over in this faction? This is how it works in here, people of Australia. It's not the best person for the job in here; it's whether you're mates with someone or you're in a certain faction. This has to stop. This is killing politics in this country and it's not giving the people that need a voice a fair go. It's got to stop. You want a fair go? You talk about a fair go over there, Labor. You talk about merit, fair go. There he is. He has earned it, and by God has he earned it. He has spent his whole life there. You've got to start thinking outside the square. It is not fair. This tradition crap is finished. This is the 21st century. Start doing the right thing and giving the jobs to the people who deserve them, who have actually earned them. That's what I'm asking. We will be voting for you to be the Chair, mate.